Sony Xperia 1 – A Smartphone Made for Filmmakers
Important smartphone reviewers were recently invited by Sony to attend a photo safari in Venice, Italy. Sadly, we weren’t on Sony’s list.
So how did the hunt go? There was a lot of rain. But, Sony provided two wild animals (modelora hungris) for the testers to chase around the old city.
Cameras specs for the Sony Xperia 1:
- Ultra-wide angle: 12 megapixels, 16 mm focal length, f/2.4 aperture, 1/3.4-inch sensor, fixed focus
- Normal focal length: 12 megapixels, 26 mm focal length, aperture f/1.6, sensor 1/2.6 inch, OIS, EIS, autofocus
- Telephoto: 12 megapixels, 52 mm focal length, aperture f/2.4, sensor 1/3.4 inch, OIS, EIS, autofocus
- Front camera: 8 megapixels, aperture f/2.0, sensor 1/4 inch, display flash, SteadyShot, HDR
Reports so far suggest the Xperia 1 camera is not a leap forward, compared to competing top range smartphones like the iPhone XS Max, Pixel 3, Samsung S10/10+ and others. But it’s just about in the same area of quality.
One interesting feature the Xperia has is for stills photography is perspective correction, to be used with the ultra-wide lens. This removes most of the fisheye style distortion, but the image gets cropped a little at the same time.
“the Xperia 1 is … aimed at filmmakers who might want to create 21:9 content.” Tech Radar
A “refreshingly simple” camera app
“While many of these apps are overloaded with various shooting modes and options, Sony’s camera app is refreshingly simple and reduced to the essentials. There is no night mode, nor is there any mode for taking portraits. The background blur can be switched on and off with a tap and its strength can be changed.” Android Pit
The Sony Experia 1 has a dedicated camera shutter button which can also be used to launch the Sony camera app.
However, the Xperia 1 comes with 2 preloaded camera apps. Below is the Cinema Pro App, it is primarily for video but also has a “grab” button to allow you to take a still frame.
Whether the Xperia 1 has a great camera and screen or not – the pre-loaded camera apps certainly have a nice look to them. And that extra wide screen space is used to help make settings a little less fiddly.
Cinema Pro App
The Cinema Pro app is designed using tech from Sony Alpha cameras. The app lets you shoot at the wide 21:9 ratio with a range of manual settings such as frame rate, white balance, lens size, shutter speed and resolution.
“film footage we shot with (the Cinema Pro App) looked surprisingly great for a smartphone.” Tech Radar
Note that the Sony Xperia 1 Cinema Pro camera app comes with various colour profile settings. One of these settings (Venice CS) is the flat or “log” mode for the camera.
Check out Quick Expert Reviews full Cinema Pro walkthrough:
Using the Sony Xperia 1 with the FiLMiC Pro camera app
The Sony Xperia 1 is compatible with the FiLMiC pro camera app. Quick Expert Reviews confirms that pretty much all of FiLMiC’s features work with the new phone.
You can watch Quick Expert Reviews… uh quick… walkthrough of both the FiLMiC Pro and the Sony camera app. I must say, the footage does look impressive.
Simple Display
Sony is pushing the Xperia 1’s simple display as a better viewing experience, especially for watching films and TV.
“there’s no notch, hole-punch camera, or wraparound display, either. The Xperia is relatively unimaginative flat screen that fills the front of the handset. That’s it.” T3
The Xperia 1 is pretty unique with its 21:9 CinemaWide 6.5-inch 4K OLED display. This gives you an aspect ratio we’re used to with wide screen TVs and cinema screens. It also supports High Dynamic Range (HDR) to “ensure you’re watching the content as its creators envisioned”. The inbuilt mobile engine actively remasters older content, too, in an attempt to bring greater contrast and colour to the images.
A smartphone made for filmmakers
“Sony’s decision to tailor the Xperia 1 to filmmakers, and people who want to shoot cinematic-looking footage, pays off. Its video functions are vital to people who want to use their smartphones to make films” Tech Radar
For us smartphone filmmakers it’s nice to know a big phone maker is thinking of us. The Cinema Pro App looks great and provides a serious alternative to 3rd party camera apps.
Now that submissions are open for MoMo 6, I’m curious to see some shot on the Sony Xperia 1.
Check Xperia 1 on Sony website
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